1. Field of the Invention
Example embodiments of the present application relate to frequency mapping for a wireless communication system.
2. Background Information
Wireless communication systems enable people to communicate with one another over distances without having to necessarily access landline-connected devices such as conventional telephones. Early wireless communication systems were primarily configured for voice communications. However, technological improvements have enabled the development of third generation (3G) and similar wireless networks for both voice and high-speed packet data transfer such as WiMAX. WiMAX is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data communication over relatively long distances and is based on the IEEE 802.16e standard.
A base station of a conventional WiMAX communication system provides services to mobile stations within a coverage area referred to as a cell. As used herein, the term cell refers to an entire coverage area of a single base station. A base station providing communication services to a cell includes a plurality of antennas. Each of the antennas provides communication services to a smaller coverage within a cell. As such, each coverage area of a base station may be divided into smaller areas referred to as sectors. In addition, the sectors may be further divided into sub-sectors. As such, one or more antennas of a base station may be configured to provide communication services to only a single sector or sub-sector.
In the previous paragraph and throughout this disclosure, a cell is defined as the aggregate of all collocated sectors at one cellular base station location, which is not consistent with the usage of some organizations in the WiMAX community. It is also noted that in some cases, a base station might be defined as one sector and one carrier only in some organizations in the WiMAX community, whereas in this disclosure, base station is defined as the collection of all sectors and carriers at one cellular base station location.
A base station may include antennas configured consistent with a well-known Reuse 1 frequency pattern or a well-known Reuse 3 frequency pattern. In the Reuse 1 frequency pattern, one frequency is used to communicate with the entire cell. In the Reuse 3 frequency pattern a different frequency is used for each of the three sectors of a cell. However, it is noted that in these well-known patterns different frequencies are not used for different sub-sectors within a sector of a cell. Also, typically, sub-sectors are not used, or if sub-sectors are used, the sub-sectors are not using different frequencies.